


Jeannie and Melissa Talk

by ReleasingmyInsanity



Category: I Dream of Jeannie
Genre: Brief Appearances By The Male Characters, Conversations, Female Friendship, Fluff, Gen, Making Friends, Not A Lot Of Plot, Talking About Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:22:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27756088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReleasingmyInsanity/pseuds/ReleasingmyInsanity
Summary: Tony worries how Jeannie will react when Mrs. Bellows invites both Jeannie and Tony’s ex-fiancée Melissa over for tea. But Jeannie and Melissa become friends.
Relationships: Minor Roger Healey/Jeannie/Anthony "Tony" Nelson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	Jeannie and Melissa Talk

“Amanda is very much looking forward to having tea with your wife this afternoon, Major Nelson,” Dr. Bellows said with a smile. “She’s invited another young woman she thinks Jeannie will get along well with. A general’s daughter, Mrs. Melissa Caldwell.”

Tony dropped the papers he was holding. “M…Melissa Caldwell, Sir? Her maiden name wouldn’t happen to have been Stone would it?”

“Why yes,” Dr. Bellows confirmed. “Is something the matter Major?”

“Say Tony,” Roger cut in. “Isn’t that the girl you were engaged to before Jeannie?”

“Yes, yes it is, Roge.” Tony replied hurriedly before once again addressing the colonel. “Sir, I’m not sure introducing them is such a good idea.”

“I do see the problem,” Dr. Bellows said thoughtfully. “But you and Jeannie have been married for over a year. Surely that’s all water under the bridge by now?”

“You don’t know Jeannie as well as I do, Sir. She has a strong jealous streak. I’m just worried that she’ll say something that she’ll regret.”

“I’m sure she is capable of behaving herself properly, Major,” Dr. Bellows did his best to reassure him. “Now, to return to the matter at hand…”

Meanwhile, at the Bellows’ home, tea was going quite well. The three women were having a lovely time. Things had been somewhat awkward at the beginning when Amanda Bellows realized, as she was introducing them, that Melissa had once been engaged to Jeannie’s husband. But Jeannie and Melissa assured her that it wasn’t an issue.

“To be completely honest, I’m glad it ended.” Melissa said. “Tony is a wonderful man and I’m sure we could have been perfectly happy together. But there was never any spark, any passion between us.”

“So you do not regret calling off your engagement?” Jeannie asked.

“Not at all. I’m still not entirely sure what happened in the weeks before we broke up. But I’m glad that it did.”

“How did you become engaged if there was no spark?” Jeannie asked, sipping her tea.

“I suppose we both saw it as being what was expected of us,” Melissa said thoughtfully. “He was an air force captain and an astronaut. I was the daughter of a general. He was supposed to have a little wife sitting at home waiting for him to return from missions.  
I was supposed to marry well and be the perfect homemaker. Raise some proper little children, always have supper waiting when he came home and greet him with a kiss. It was more about appearances than it was about affection.”

“That does not sound so bad,” Jeannie said.

“I thought so too at the time. But now that I’ve had several years to reflect, I realize that that was not the life I really wanted.”

“Did you not marry someone else?” Jeannie asked, casting a puzzled glance at Melissa’s wedding ring.

Melissa laughed, “Oh yes. But Grover is different. With Grover I don’t feel like I’m only doing what’s expected of me. Our marriage has passion, and a deep love. But most importantly, it’s a real partnership.”

Jeannie smiled. “Oh I am so glad. That is exactly how I feel about _my_ husbands…Husband,” she corrected herself.

Melissa giggled. “With how much time Roger Healey and Tony spend together I always wondered if it would be like having two husbands. I guess I’m not the only one who thinks that.”

“It is very much like that,” Jeannie confirmed.

“Practically having two husbands sounds exhausting,” Amanda put in. “I love Alfred dearly but one of him is enough.”

“Oh it is not so bad,” Jeannie reassured the other women. “I love Major Healey.”

“This is why you’re better suited for Tony than I was,” Melissa said with a laugh. “It’s not that I don’t like Major Healey. But I would want him to go somewhere else once in a while.”

“If Alfred had a friend who was around all the time, I would have asked him to go away too,” Amanda said.

“Major Healey _did_ try to give us more space after we were first married,” Jeannie said. “But he missed us and we missed him, so we asked him to go back to coming over all the time.”

“You really do like having him around,” Melissa said, voice full of amazement.

“Oh yes,” Jeannie nodded emphatically, “He is my favorite person. Besides Anthony of course,” she added quickly.

“What will you do if you have children?” Amanda asked. “Surely you won’t want him around all the time then?”

“On the contrary,” Jeannie said. “If Anthony and I have children, I hope that Major Healey will move in with us and help raise them.”

Melissa and Amanda laughed. “That sounds too much like settling down. And we all know he can’t commit.”

“Oh, I do not think that is true.” Jeannie said airily. “I think the only reason he has dated so many girls is that he is a romantic, always hoping to find the right girl. Major Healey would be a wonderful husband.”

The other two women stared at Jeannie in surprise.

“You may be right,” Melissa said. “I never thought of it that way, but now that you say it, it makes a lot of sense.”

“Enough about husbands,” Amanda Bellows said finally. “I invited the two of you over for tea, not a gossip session about our husbands and their friends.”

Jeannie and Melissa laughed.

“You are right Mrs. Bellows,” Jeannie agreed. “Melissa, where did you get your handbag? It is lovely.”

“Thank you. It was a birthday present,” Melissa said. “I love the way you’re wearing your hair. It must take hours to style.”

“Oh it is easy,” Jeannie said. “It is finished in the blink of an eye.”

\--

Later when Tony came home, Roger right behind him, they were both relieved to find Jeannie calm and not at all angry about having spent the afternoon with Tony’s ex.

“How…how was tea with Mrs. Bellows?” Tony asked, trying not to make it obvious how nervous he was.

“Oh, it was lovely,” Jeannie said, giving them each a quick kiss in greeting. “She invited Melissa Stone Caldwell over as well.”

Tony nodded. “Dr. Bellows told us.”

“Did you turn her into a frog?” Roger interrupted.

Tony shot him a look, but Jeannie merely laughed. “Of course not, silly. The three of us had a marvelous time.”

“No hard feelings then?” Tony asked.

“None,” Jeannie assured him. “We smoothed everything over. Then we talked about the two of you.” Giving her husbands an enigmatic smile, Jeannie bounced happily off into the kitchen.

Tony and Roger glanced at each other. “Do we want to know what they said about us?” Tony asked.

Roger shook his head. “Nooo.”

**Author's Note:**

> I decided that I need some female friendship in this fandom, so I created some. Besides, I’m tired of woman vs. woman plots and I wanted Jeannie and Melissa get to be friends instead of enemies.
> 
> It amuses me so much to imagine Jeannie, Tony, and Roger being polyamous married and no one else being aware of that fact. So they just think Jeannie’s exaggerating and speaking platonically.
> 
> Jeannie isn’t very good at hiding that they’re married to Roger to is she? Then again, I think the other women just think she’s weird and don’t really know what’s going on.
> 
> Amanda Bellows is my favorite character and I’m trying so hard to include her. But there wasn’t really anything she could add to the discussion of why Melissa didn’t marry Tony.


End file.
